Anyway, I think Buch has been great for us and he has definitely exceeded by short term expectations. But I have no problem with AVs use of him. He is still filling out, it's a long season. We have depth, why not use it? Let Vesey and Buch take a few turns getting more minutes. And it's not like our 4th is sitting that much, we play many games. The minutes will pile up.

Both Miller and Fast has also been used less for stretches. Will keep these guys fresh for the POs. We need that.

He hit a bit of a rookie wall, whether it's injury related or not is to be determined. He' been playing poorly as of late, but he'll be fine. Keep his legs fresh, and he'll be ready to make an impact in April.

He hit a bit of a rookie wall, whether it's injury related or not is to be determined. He' been playing poorly as of late, but he'll be fine. Keep his legs fresh, and he'll be ready to make an impact in April.

He's been doing fine when he gets the puck with space, but he's been having a lot of problems making plays under pressure (which is not unexpected for a rookie). Just a lot of lost board battles and unsuccessful entries.

I don't think he played bad enough to warrant getting a whopping 9:00 TOI. He took a penalty and then got benched aside from a couple of shifts. His highest TOI in the last five games was 10:33. Is AV expecting him to play a perfect game or something? How is he supposed to learn and get better when he's getting buried every game?

Confidence. In the first PB was about to make a good defensive play but messed up with the clearance off the glass, and he couldn't shake it off for the most of the the rest of the game. Vesey is doing much better lately so no surprise that AV switched them back (and it paid off).

Watching Butch play you can see that he's been paying A LOT of attention on a defensive side. He's been doing well there IMHO, so maybe getting some extra work with the skill coach could get his confidence back up on the offensive side. Overall, I'm not worried.

I think it is pretty clear right now that Vesey is the more complete player. PB definitely has more offensive flair/skill and vision, and is more creative, but Vesey is better away from the puck in terms of knowing where to be to get the puck back.

I don't think he played bad enough to warrant getting a whopping 9:00 TOI. He took a penalty and then got benched aside from a couple of shifts. His highest TOI in the last five games was 10:33. Is AV expecting him to play a perfect game or something? How is he supposed to learn and get better when he's getting buried every game?

Click to expand...

AV started him on the top line tonight. Buch was invisible. So AV demoted him. What is wrong with that? Contrary to popular belief, giving rookies tons of minutes whether they deserve them or not isn't in the best interest of the rookie OR the team.

AV started him on the top line tonight. Buch was invisible. So AV demoted him. What is wrong with that? Contrary to popular belief, giving rookies tons of minutes whether they deserve them or not isn't in the best interest of the rookie OR the team.

Click to expand...

He had six shifts in the first period and then a total of 7 in the last two. I just don't think it's the right way to do it. He played well the last couple of games and then got demoted in place of Vesey (not that Vesey has been bad). For all the great depth we have, there's no point if AV is gonna play them as little as he has been.

I don't think he played bad enough to warrant getting a whopping 9:00 TOI. He took a penalty and then got benched aside from a couple of shifts. His highest TOI in the last five games was 10:33. Is AV expecting him to play a perfect game or something? How is he supposed to learn and get better when he's getting buried every game?

Click to expand...

The team is competing for playoff positioning in the toughest division in the league, now is not the time to let him work through the growing pains by giving him 12-15 minutes a night when there are much better players in the lineup right now in terms of reliability and trust when the game is tight and on the line. He still got PP time and some shifts late in that one goal game which was shocking enough. He was bad last night and deserved the demotion. He will be fine.

You tell me who he deserved more time than out of the top 9 in TOI in a tight back and forth playoff like game against a team that tore us apart last time we met. A team we could face in the playoffs. They recognized they needed to tighten up their overall team play against a potential playoff matchup. AV pulled the right strings for once. He had a second more of ice time than Lindberg and TBH Lindberg was much more effective than him.

Like most Ranger players he gets too much praise when scoring and too much bashing when not scoring. Let the kid play whether 1st line or 4th line.He will be fine. Rookies have growing pains. We have to live through those growing pains.

The team is competing for playoff positioning in the toughest division in the league, now is not the time to let him work through the growing pains by giving him 12-15 minutes a night when there are much better players in the lineup right now in terms of reliability and trust when the game is tight and on the line. He still got PP time and some shifts late in that one goal game which was shocking enough. He was bad last night and deserved the demotion. He will be fine.

Click to expand...

Yeah, this exact phrase summarizes why the whole "this is supposed to be a transition year so who cares we get outplayed every game?" shtick is complete nonsense and always has been.